(Live Thread) PRES. BUSH ADDRESSES U.N. [11:30 EDT]

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/09/20060919-4.html ^ | September 19, 2006 | self

[Mo1]

Forgive me, for I have sinned ;0)

[mystery-ak]

Both of you scoot over, I'm coming in....;)

[RobFromGa]

I think we should start being very worried if these dictators and thigs start to like us, and our policies. Same goes for the journalists who are just wannabe dictators.

[defconw]

LOL, marking spot. Need to go find a magazine that has an article on Rudy Giuliani. Back for speech I hope.

[defconw]

Is a thig like a yute? ;)

[windchime]

Thanks! Will be glad when President Bush is out of there.

At least the hypocritical 'Monkey Man from Iran' won't be at the luncheon.

Indiscriminate Killing - Yes
Alcohol - No

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,251-2364292,00.html

[Carolinamom]

Any more room for one more on that mark? I can't take Eleanor Cliff on FNC. BBL

[Miss Marple]

Ugh. I just heard Eleanor, too!

[Mo1]

Good Morning, Mystery-ak

[RobFromGa]

LOL! (thig)

Prez Bush just need to make some minor polishes to this speech to the UN in 2002 (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/09/20020912-1.html):

...Delegates to the General Assembly, we have been more than patient. We've tried sanctions. We've tried the carrot of oil for food, and the stick of coalition military strikes. But Saddam Hussein has defied all these efforts and continues to develop weapons of mass destruction. The first time we may be completely certain he has a -- nuclear weapons is when, God forbids, he uses one. We owe it to all our citizens to do everything in our power to prevent that day from coming.

The conduct of the Iraqi regime is a threat to the authority of the United Nations, and a threat to peace. Iraq has answered a decade of U.N. demands with a decade of defiance. All the world now faces a test, and the United Nations a difficult and defining moment. Are Security Council resolutions to be honored and enforced, or cast aside without consequence? Will the United Nations serve the purpose of its founding, or will it be irrelevant?

The United States helped found the United Nations. We want the United Nations to be effective, and respectful, and successful. We want the resolutions of the world's most important multilateral body to be enforced. And right now those resolutions are being unilaterally subverted by the Iraqi regime. Our partnership of nations can meet the test before us, by making clear what we now expect of the Iraqi regime.

If the Iraqi regime wishes peace, it will immediately and unconditionally forswear, disclose, and remove or destroy all weapons of mass destruction, long-range missiles, and all related material.

If the Iraqi regime wishes peace, it will immediately end all support for terrorism and act to suppress it, as all states are required to do by U.N. Security Council resolutions.

If the Iraqi regime wishes peace, it will cease persecution of its civilian population, including Shi'a, Sunnis, Kurds, Turkomans, and others, again as required by Security Council resolutions.

If the Iraqi regime wishes peace, it will release or account for all Gulf War personnel whose fate is still unknown. It will return the remains of any who are deceased, return stolen property, accept liability for losses resulting from the invasion of Kuwait, and fully cooperate with international efforts to resolve these issues, as required by Security Council resolutions.

If the Iraqi regime wishes peace, it will immediately end all illicit trade outside the oil-for-food program. It will accept U.N. administration of funds from that program, to ensure that the money is used fairly and promptly for the benefit of the Iraqi people.

If all these steps are taken, it will signal a new openness and accountability in Iraq. And it could open the prospect of the United Nations helping to build a government that represents all Iraqis -- a government based on respect for human rights, economic liberty, and internationally supervised elections.

The United States has no quarrel with the Iraqi people; they've suffered too long in silent captivity. Liberty for the Iraqi people is a great moral cause, and a great strategic goal. The people of Iraq deserve it; the security of all nations requires it. Free societies do not intimidate through cruelty and conquest, and open societies do not threaten the world with mass murder. The United States supports political and economic liberty in a unified Iraq.

We can harbor no illusions -- and that's important today to remember. Saddam Hussein attacked Iran in 1980 and Kuwait in 1990. He's fired ballistic missiles at Iran and Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Israel. His regime once ordered the killing of every person between the ages of 15 and 70 in certain Kurdish villages in northern Iraq. He has gassed many Iranians, and 40 Iraqi villages.

My nation will work with the U.N. Security Council to meet our common challenge. If Iraq's regime defies us again, the world must move deliberately, decisively to hold Iraq to account. We will work with the U.N. Security Council for the necessary resolutions. But the purposes of the United States should not be doubted. The Security Council resolutions will be enforced -- the just demands of peace and security will be met -- or action will be unavoidable. And a regime that has lost its legitimacy will also lose its power.

Events can turn in one of two ways: If we fail to act in the face of danger, the people of Iraq will continue to live in brutal submission. The regime will have new power to bully and dominate and conquer its neighbors, condemning the Middle East to more years of bloodshed and fear. The regime will remain unstable -- the region will remain unstable, with little hope of freedom, and isolated from the progress of our times. With every step the Iraqi regime takes toward gaining and deploying the most terrible weapons, our own options to confront that regime will narrow. And if an emboldened regime were to supply these weapons to terrorist allies, then the attacks of September the 11th would be a prelude to far greater horrors.

If we meet our responsibilities, if we overcome this danger, we can arrive at a very different future. The people of Iraq can shake off their captivity. They can one day join a democratic Afghanistan and a democratic Palestine, inspiring reforms throughout the Muslim world. These nations can show by their example that honest government, and respect for women, and the great Islamic tradition of learning can triumph in the Middle East and beyond. And we will show that the promise of the United Nations can be fulfilled in our time.

Neither of these outcomes is certain. Both have been set before us. We must choose between a world of fear and a world of progress. We cannot stand by and do nothing while dangers gather. We must stand up for our security, and for the permanent rights and the hopes of mankind. By heritage and by choice, the United States of America will make that stand. And, delegates to the United Nations, you have the power to make that stand, as well.

Thank you very much. (Applause.)

[mystery-ak]

Good morning......this should be an exciting day!

[madison10]

He will not attend the luncheon because there will be alcohol served...and it's "against islam"...

Yeah, yeah. Only "against Islam" when it's convenient to serve his evil actions for later. ;)

[Mo1]

Need to go find a magazine that has an article on Rudy Giuliani

That reminds me .. I have to find one later at the grocery store

[Paleologus]

ARRGH! The Dogpile logo says today be TLAP Day! Go there and view the pooch!

[Txsleuth]

Thanks for the ping, MOM>>>

[onyx]

G'Morning everyone.

Have to take the dog to the groomer. I shall try to hurry back.

[SeaBiscuit]

I find it outrageous, that this Iranian Madman, who wants to take America down, vows to wipe Israel off the face of the map, accuses our President of restarting the Crusades, openly defies the West and continues to seek Nuclear weapons to do just that, harbors and supports Terrorists, will be allowed to give a speech in America, in NYC..scene of 9/11..outrageous insult after major injury ... ?!?

This is no different than if Adolf Hitler came to America to give a speech while planning to begin WWII and the Holocaust.

And our tax dollars have to protect him while in this Country..???

As if we MUST give him a square deal, treat him with PC gloves, even though he is supporting Terrorists, an open sworn enemy of America, Jews, Christians and a threat to the entire free world.

Why? How is this good? It's a sign of our weakness not diplomacy, and he certainly isn't here for diplomacy ..and I believe that's part of his reason to be here, to access firsthand just how PC weak/divided his foe really is.. an 'in your face' declaration. I'm livid.

[R_Kangel]

I always worry when so many leaders of the world gather together in one place.

Especially in todays climate of terror.

[Miss Marple]

There is some sort of treaty which allows all world leaders to come to the UN. Kruschev spoke there, if you are old enough to remember, saying "We will bury you." Castro has also spoken there.

[RobFromGa]

Bush addresses to UN
2003: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/09/20030923-4.html

2004: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/09/20040921-3.html

2005 to Plenary: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/09/20050914.html

2005 to Sec Council:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/09/20050914-4.html